The Quantum Wanderer

Charles and Lucille have a lot of fun talking to the Requiem Warriors.

They are describing several different cities they have visited. They mentioned that the cities in the empire look alike one another.

Of course, they all have different sizes, the capital being the biggest one. But they don’t vary very much in terms of proportions for nobles, merchants and workers districts. The cities in the Holy Kingdom have an austerity that can only be found there, apparently. The city itself is more bare, while the churches are rich.

They have a lot of rules on fasting and praying. There are laws against eating during fasting periods. Even outsiders cannot find food in those periods. They fast during the day, only drinking water, but they are allowed to eat when the sun is not in the sky.

Aeson tells us that they are going to start a fasting period now, they have three weeks fasting before the equinox, and then they celebrate with this big festival. It is supposed to be the victory of Nergal over Wrax.

My intention on visiting that country was already none, but it managed to drop lower somehow.

They inform that the prices there are high. They did ask some merchants, apparently there are separate taxes for the government and the church.

There are separate courts in there as well. There is a crime one, and there is a religious one, apparently. Aeson mentions that in theory the courts are independent, but in reality the religious one holds a lot more power.

Someone accused of being a chaos agent, using magic associated to Wrax can be burned at the stakes. People accused of that rarely managed to get free. They would only escape if they knew someone from the church that could voucher for them. The low cleric, however, would be afraid to do so. That meant that one had to know a bishop or higher to avoid a gruesome death.

I was apparently very lucky for not been branded an infidel when I visited with Muninn on my shoulder. I regret ever going there for the sale of the dragon. I should have used other places.

The low cleric is allowed to have a family, but they were given a simple place to live. One room. If they had a family, it was up to them to find jobs for the children. The children would normally become either adventurers or foot soldiers.

At this point, Rudolph enters the room.

“Excuse me, lady and gentlemen, your rooms are ready. Please follow me.”

Rudolph goes up the stairs, but he turns to the wing opposite mine and the girls’. We also go up, we want to wash up before dinner.

After washing up and having some fun, we go down for dinner. We sit down. Then Charles and Lucille come down with the Requiem Warriors, now in everyday clothes. I can hear Tar shouting from the staircase.

“NO WAY! YOU CAN’T BE SERIOUS!”

I hear a slap. “OY!” Tar exclaims.

The group arrives, they occupy their chairs around the table. Tar is pouting.

“You didn’t need to…”

Lu makes her face.

The group is wearing some very fine clothing. It doesn’t look comfortable. They are really overdressed. I giggle.

“You guys do realize that we are not that formal around here, right?”

“Sorry, we were not sure… Do you want us to change?” Aeson volunteers.

I shrug.

“That is up to you. But you are about to taste Roberta’s food. You might get some drool over your fine clothes.”

Cecilia and Charles laugh. They look at Lucille. She nods. Tar puts a napkin no his neck. Lu sighs. Aeson doesn’t really know how to act.

“Just act normal guys, I am the same Marcelo that spent days on end with you guys on the back of a cart.”

Lu sighs.

“I am sorry, but that is not the message that we get from all this.”

“Don’t worry about all this. People are important. My opinions did not change from that time.”

The maids enter the dining room, bringing in the huge amount of food. Tar is drooling. Of course, there are several trips to bring all the steaks, the girls eat a lot. The trio is frozen.

After the food is brought, I turn to them.

“Don’t worry about eating everything, there is more food in the kitchen. The workers also have access to good food, there is food for everyone.”

Aeson is looking at the amount of food while the girls and I start reaching for our steaks. I give Muninn and Huginn their piece.

“Are you waiting for more people?” Aeson asks.

“No. But some of us eat a lot. Go ahead, fill your bellies.”

“Don’t mind if I do.” Tar gets a big piece of steak.

Lu keeps throwing daggers to Tar. She sighs, and serves herself as well.

BLAM BLAM BLAM!

Tar slaps the table 3 times. “BY THE GODS! WHAT IS THIS?”

I laugh. Lu again slaps her face, pulling her hand down. Aeson hits his elbow on Tar’s ribs.

“I can’t tell you what the meat is, it is kind of a secret. But it was cooked by Roberta and her team. She is our chef. I am amazed at how good her cooking is!”

Lu slowly puts a piece of steak in her mouth, and starts savoring it. She starts groaning and making some sounds that look a tad inappropriate. Opal and Aquamarine sniff the air. Aquamarine whispers in my ear.

”My lord, is your friend in heat?”

I whisper back.

“No, humans don’t go in heat. Roberta’s food is just that good.”

After that, Aeson tastes the food. It is really good. He also makes some unsavory sounds. Roberta is fantastic. Ruby shrugs to the scene, she starts eating. Really eating, like normal. The other girls follow her, and we have our dinner.

Charles also laughs.

“Do you understand now why we are living here, lady Lu?”

She wakes up from her stupor, to look at Charles and nod a lot. We continue with our dinner. At some point, Tar is just staring at the girls. Yes, the amount of food they eat is fantastic. I smile. Shandon at some point feels a little annoyed.

“Sir, it is not polite to stare at a lady.”

“Oh, sorry.” He now stares at his plate.

I laugh. I smile at Shandon. She blushes a little bit. After some silence, Tar is back at eating. Once the breakfast is done all three of them are slanted on  the chairs. Tar slaps his stomach, and burps out loud. Lu looks at him. She lifts her hand, but then gives up on slapping Tar.

“I am just too full…” Lu comments.

This is almost comedy. We all laugh. Including Muninn. Aeson starts staring at the “crow”. He turns to me.

“Sir Marcelo… Did your crow just now… Laughed?”

Lu makes him a face. Tar scratches his head, doing the same face towards Aeson. We laugh even harder, but now Muninn pretends he is just a crow. After I finally finish laughing, I let them in on the little secret.

“This is something that very few people know, but after some stuff that happened… Muninn and Huginn here can talk.”

“Oh, COME, ON! I was going to milk that one, father!”

Lu is looking at Muninn now, the information is still sinking in. Her eyes are bulging.

“THE CROW IS TALKING!”

Muninn laughs a little. He then turns to me.

“Are you sure she can cast, father? Her clothing looked wizard, but her speech sounds berserker…”

He finishes the sentence looking at her. She is so shocked that she doesn’t pay attention to what Muninn is saying. I am probably going to hell, but I laugh at Muninn’s tirades.

Huginn gets close to him, and hits him on the back of the head with the wing.

“You’re being rude!” She turns to our guests. “I am sorry for my husband’s harsh words…”

Even the dragonesses are laughing now. Our guests are just staring at Huginn. They don’t react to her. We finish laughing, and let them take their time. The girls finish eating.

After what looks like hours, Lu turns to me.

“How?”

I shrug.

“Well, you know how those things go…”

Aeson tilts his head.

“No?” He makes a face, then giggles. “I definitely don’t.”

I think about how much I can tell them. It would be nice having more friends I could talk to about things in general. Sometimes all the secrecy takes a toll. All the people that know everything is really busy. I should not be bugging them just to chat. The only person I know that is more on the normal side is Andrew. I probably should visit him.

But thinking about the problem at hand… Even if I tell them how, it is not really reproducible by many people.

“If you feed them food with enough mana, they can evolve.”

“What do you mean, evolve?” Lu asks.

“They can evolve into another species. They are no longer crows, they evolved into brâns.”

“What is that?”

I shrug. This is one of those things that you have to show, rather than explain.

“A really bad-ass huge bird that can hunt anything he wants, present company excluded. Possibly.” Muninn answers, holding a smile.

I giggle.

“With a somewhat asshole humor. In his case, at least.”

Muninn tilts his head from one side to the other, and then nods. Aeson looks at Muninn.

“Do you mean that you wouldn’t do it or that you can’t do it?”

“Both. Why would I make father sad?”

“Can I be blunt about something? Are you not worried about sharing those secrets?” Aeson asks me.

“I trust you guys. You haven’t shared anything about the way I fought while I traveled with you. So I am thinking that I can trust you.

“Other than that, my group here is already strong enough that it is kind of hard to hit us. Although it sounds weird, that actually makes me a lot more relaxed. It is a lot harder to piss me off now than it used to. Just because I am that much more confident on my ability to leave a situation without harm.”

Tar tilts his head. Aeson can’t hold his curiosity.

“I am sorry. Please, if you are uncomfortable just let me know instead of answering… How strong are you guys?”

“Do you promise me to not change the way we interact?”

Lu shrugs.

“Sure.”

“What do you know about the Land of Dragons?”

There is some silence, they just keep looking at my face instead of answering. I look straight at Aeson, to pull out an answer.

“You have heard about that, right?”

“Yes.”

“Great. So the dragons call that Nursery. Because you only have hatchlings and nannies there. Basically hatchlings and young adults.

“In the real land of the dragons, in another continent, there are elder dragons. They are about twice as big as the adults in the Nursery.

“If I am not mistaken, Cecilia here can defeat an elder on her own. The rest of us can probably wipe them out.”

There is a moment of silence. The trio look at me, like I am crazy. Then they look at Opal. She nods. They look at Ruby, she shrugs.

Aeson does this face, then he points at me, shaking his index finger up and down...

“Hahaha… Nice one!”

I shrug.

“Just please, whether you believe it or not, don’t tell anyone.”

Lu tilts her head from one side to another.

“We can do that, of course. It’s just… What you’re telling us is too insane.”

“I can understand that.”

Tar turns to Cecilia.

“I am sorry, but what is your level?”

“A hundred and six.”

Lu laughs.

“Now I know you’re joking. Only heros can reach a hundred.”

Cecilia smiles. Tar turns to her.

“Can we spar?”

Cecilia shrugs.

“Not really my thing, but if my villain promise me a reward…”

I look around, and Ruby is not doing a puppy face. I turn to her, curious.

“Are you interested in sparring or the reward?”

“My lord, I have already sparred with higher level humans, but the reward…” She bites her lower lips.

I take a look at my red-head. I grab her hand and kiss it. I turn to Tar.

“Ok. Let’s do this. It is going to be quick. Go up, change into your gear, meet us down here.”

Tar goes up the stairs, running. Lu is embarrassed for her colleague, and Aeson has this curiosity expression on his face.

I take a look at what Ruby is wearing, comfortable pants and a shirt. Something to walk around inside the house.

“Don’t you want to dress something else?”

“Do I have to, my lord?”

I shrug.

Shortly after, Tar comes down the stairs, in his adventurer gear. I turn to Muninn.

“Do you know of any clearing somewhere? I don’t want to be seen, and I don’t want to make a mess.”

“What about the centaur’s clearing? Grass on the ground… The blood is already gone at this point, not many monsters close by…”

I open a portal. Ruby and the girls jump through it. I gesture the guests to go, they slowly follow them.

“WHAT THE FUCK! WHERE ARE WE?” Aeson interjects.

“We are somewhere inside the Holy Kingdom, away from prying eyes.” I answer. “Don’t worry.”

Tar is looking around at the clearing in the middle of the forest. Lu looks around and asks.

“Your crow-“

“Muninn.”

“Muninn mentioned something about centaurs… Is this…?”

“Yes?”

“Is this where the battle of the bloody hooves happened?”

“Yes.”

“Was it you?”

“I didn’t lift a finger. Ruby here did most of the work. She enjoys this kind of thing.”

Tar looked at Ruby. I could feel the chill down his spine. He was starting to reconsider some recent bad life choices. Aeson looks around, then turns to me.

“Are the rumors true?”

“What rumors? You do realize they can’t all be true, right? Most of them are just drunks trying to find the meaning of life…”

“That Lady Guina’s head was ripped from her body with the backbone?”

I giggle.

“That one is true. That was Huginn’s work. She wanted to send a message. It worked.”

Aeson and Lu take a look at the couple of brâns in crow shape. Muninn smiles, and uses his claw to cut of a piece of solid stone. The guests look at that, slack-jawed.

Ruby stretches her arms, tilts her head from one side to the other, gets close to Tar.

“Let’s go, big guy.”

Tar has his claymore on his back, but he just raises his fists. Ruby laughs.

“You should use your sword.”

“But… What if… Someone gets hurt?”

“Oh, that is easy to solve. The sword just has to stay in your hands…”

Tar picks his sword, he does a slow swing at Ruby. She holds the blade with two fingers. He pulls it back, the sword doesn’t move. He puts in more strength, the sword doesn’t move. Little by little he increases the strength on the sword. It doesn’t move.

At one point, it is a tug of war, but only for Tar. Ruby is just holding the sword with two fingers. She lets the blade go, he falls on his butt.

“I am amazed your friends are still alive with such a weak frontline.”

That apparently pisses him of, he stands up and charges at her.

She keeps her speed about the same as his, but now she has technique. She evades a downward swing, pivoting to his side. She places the space between the thumb and the index finger between his hands, being by his side now, walks forward and shoves him lightly with her shoulder.

He rolls on the ground, the sword is now in her hands. Once he stops rolling, he throws the sword that is stuck on the ground close to him.

He picks up the sword and comes to try again. This time he comes with a horizontal slash. She steps beyond the blade, close to him. Her hand on his face gets him off balance, her pull on his wrist throws him again on the ground.

The funny thing about this is that it doesn’t look like she is overwhelming powerful. It looks like he is just clowning around. It is comical.

After another half a dozen attempts, he is breathing hard, on the ground.

Aeson and Lu, that were just watching till now, start laughing. Lu is the one to throw some comments.

“COME ON, TAR! SHE IS HALF YOUR WEIGHT!”

Tar sits up. He looks at Lu.

“Fuck you too.”

He is sweating. Ruby didn’t even exercise.

Tar looks at her.

“I am amazed with your fighting skill, but you didn’t look particularly fast, though.”

“Because I didn’t want to be.” Ruby answers, from behind Lu. Lu jumps 6 feet forward because of the scare.

There is some silence, I open a portal back home. We all go back. Lu looks at Tar with a disapproving look.

“You are going to take another shower before we go into the guild, right?”

He sniffs his own armpit, then lowers his head.

“Ok, sure.”

Lu turns to us.

“This was one of the finest demonstrations I have ever seen. If I didn’t know that Tar was doing his best, I would have thought it was theater instead of a real fight. Thank you.”

Ruby is taking a look at her nails. She didn’t even hurt the paint, she is happy.

“Hum.”

Lu continues.

“Now if you excuse us, we are going to visit the guild, to check for quests.”

“Sure, go ahead. The girls and I are going to the elves…”

Aeson and Lu’s eyebrows shoot up.

“Do you mean… Their city?”

“Yes. Do you want to come?”

Both of them make a puppy face. I continue.

“No problem. Just change into something average, we are going to do the same. Once we are all ready, we can go.”

They go up the stairs. They stop at the top, look back at me. They talk among themselves, then go all the way.

We also go up, and put on some clothes that are more adequate. We go back down, and wait for the trio. Charles and Lucille are in the living room. I turn to Charles.

“Do you guys want to go to the elves?”

Charles tilts his head from side to side.

 “Sure, why not? Dear?”

Lucille nods.

“Alright, then. Let’s wait for our guests.” I mention.

I look outside, it is a fine weather. A fine day, like many others. I stare at the clouds a little bit, distracted.

Soon after the party comes down. They are dressed like we are. Of course, their clothing is not the same quality, but they are ok.

While coming down the stairs, Lu asks.

“Are we going to use the same weird magic to get there?”

“Yes. I call it a portal spell. By the way, do you guys have dwarven gold coins?”

“Only one. Why?”

“The elves only deal with either their own currency or dwarven currency. They don’t deal with human currency. They have had reports of fake coins. Apparently by the kingdom itself. So they restricted it.”

Aeson shrugs.

I cast the portal, and we jump into it. Ypê, as always, appears in front of us.

“Big brother! Long time no see! Big sisters! Oh, big brother has friends…”

I smile at her.

“How have you been doing?”

“We have been doing great! We have been missing big brother, though… Is big brother ready for the party?”

“I don’t know. Is there anything I should bring?”

“Just your rested self, big brother! You are also the distinguished guests!”

“Thank you.”

She looks behind me.

“Have you shown your power to more people? Is it not a secret anymore?”

“I am still keeping it a secret at large, but I can trust these people.”

“You don’t seem too concerned about keeping the secret, though…” Ypê says, while having her left arm crossed, her right hand on her chin.

“Hummm. Perhaps a little less concerned now. I don’t know if I am being overconfident, but I think we can mostly hold our own.”

Ypê laughs, and additional sound of laughter enter through the window. When I look back, she is gone.

We go outside, we go to the condiments shop, to let them have a look. Lu gives a look at the alchemy part of it, but not that much. There is not much there to impress them.

The second shop we go to is the cloth one. Lu goes crazy, Aeson is able to identify the very high quality of cloth available. Tar couldn’t help but being bored.

Lu ends up picking some cotton and one roll of spider silk. I place the two dwarven gold coins on the counter, to pay for it. The trio turns to me.

“Since you guys didn’t know about the dwarven coins requirements, let this one be on me.”

“I don’t know…” Aeson scratches his head.

“It’s ok, I have a lot of it.” I mention.

They look at the girls, Cecilia nods at them, they relax.

“Thank you, noble sir!” Lu says, with some sarcasm.